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M EMORIAL 



l\ S. NATAL ENGINEERS 



HONORABLE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

IX CONGEESS ASSEMBLED. 



May it please your Honor ahh Bodies — 

We, the Engineers of the Navy of the United 
States, respectfully show: 

That previous to the Great Rebellion, this coun- 
try maintained but a small Navy — serving only for 
a nucleus, from which has been formed, with a 
rapidity unparalleled in the history of the world, 
a naval force which commands the respect of the 
great European powers. If, when the Rebellion is 
crushed, we are to return to the old policy of an 



2 MEMORIAL. 

insignificant Navy — one which will permit a civil 
or a foreign war to assume gigantic proportions 
while we are preparing our ships with their arma- 
ments and crews, as in the present war, instead of 
being able to crush the enemy at his first onslaught 
— it may not be of the greatest importance to give 
serious attention to the subject of securing the best 
talent which the country is capable of producing, 
for guiding the construction and management of our 
national ships. 

But if, as we believe will be the case, we decide 
to maintain a naval force which will always be 
ready to repel successfully the most powerful at- 
tacks upon our peace and our liberties which it is 
possible to bring from any quarter, this question 
of procuring and employing the highest order of 
talent of which the country is capable, for direct- 
ing the construction and the management of our 
national ships, assumes at once the gravest impor- 
tance. 

It needs but little demonstration to convince the 
intelligent men of whom your Honorable Bodies 
are composed, that upon the Engineers who gov- 
ern the construction of any Navy will devolve the 
task of giving power and prestige to the materiel 
of any such Navy which will hereafter be main- 
tained. We do not wish, in stating this, to under- 



MEMORIAL. , 3 

value in the slightest the great importance of those 
who will command and light- our vessels. The 
advantages of employing men of a high sense of 
honor and great abilities in those positions are well 
understood, and have been universally and long- 
recognized. 

But what will it avail any country, permit us to 
ask, to send out its ships officered and manned with 
the bravest and most skilful commanders and crews, 
if the enemy of that country dispatch to meet them 
ships of greater offensive and defensive powers — 
ships having greater speed, greater impenetrability, 
and greater power of ordnance? 

The introduction of steam and of armored ships 
has thrown the responsibility of the speed and the 
impenetrability of our ships upon the engineer. It 
is true that the Government avails itself of the tal- 
ents of engineers in civil life, and that some of the 
best designs of ships and machinery of which our 
Navy boasts have emanated from such engineers; 
but it is also true that the Government depends 
upon its own officers to advise it with respect to 
the excellence of the civilians' plans submitted to 
it, and afterwards to attend to their proper and 
faithful execution. 

Ours is the only Navy in the world possessing 
a corps of engineers to whom are intrusted the de- 



4 MEMORIAL. 

termination of the amount and character of the 
steam-power with which our vessels shall be fitted, 
its detail design, the superintendence of its con- 
struction, and its management at sea. To the steam- 
machinery are now being added iron ships, and the 
armoring of iron and wooden ships. 

All the great powers, ourselves included, are at 
present striving each to secure the most effective 
iron-clad fleets; the expenses thus incurred by each 
are very great. It is not, however, the one which 
will expend the most treasure, but the one which 
builds upon the plans best adapted to the end in 
view, that will finally "rule the waves." That is 
to say, the supremacy of the sea has become reduced 
to a mere engineering question ; and, consequently, 
that country which employs the best engineers will 
have the best ships, and be the victors in all future 
naval wars, — unless, indeed, the inferior ships be 
commanded and manned by officers and men of 
superior skill and bravery — the very character of 
men deserving of the best vessels. 

Believing, as we do, that we number among us 
members who possess genius and talents of a very 
high order, and who, if retained in the service of 
the Government, will always be adding to the pres- 
tige of our Navy, keeping it always in advance of 
that of any other nation, we make bold to express 



MEMORIAL. 5 

the belief that the surest mode of retaining them, 
or of securing their equals in the future, is to in- 
crease their pay to a point which will leave no 
inducement to resign from the Government service. 

Commanding officers win fame and renown by 
success in battle ; for this they must necessarily 
remain in the Government service : but the fame 
of the engineer is the same, whether his genius and 
talents are devoted to the ships of the nation, or 
to those of the commercial marine. 

When, therefore, he is not restrained by his pa- 
triotism, or the power of the Navy Department, as 
now in time of war, he will naturally choose the 
service to which the best salaries are attached. 

The present pay of naval engineers is graduated 
just high enough to prevent resignations with the 
view to following the sea in merchant-ships, but 
entirely too low to prevent our most able members 
from resigning with the view of joining steam- 
engine and ship -building establishments; and it 
could easily be shown that the entire pay of the 
whole engineer corps for one year, at the rate which 
we would recommend to be paid, and which would 
almost wholly prevent such resignations, would 
amount to less than the sum which the Govern- 
ment would save by building one important ship 
upon a superior plan. 



Q MEMORIAL. 

It may be possible that some of us would receive 
higher salaries than we should deserve ; but that is 
always the case in every organization, and it can- 
not be remedied. It is equally as true now, with 
our present rates of pay, as it will be twenty years 
hence, if they are increased to those hereinafter 
suggested. The higher the salaries, the greater will 
be the inducement for young men of ability and 
liberal acquirements to enter and remain in the 
corps. Thus will the average be improved, and the 
most able retained. 

The rates of pay which we take the liberty to 
ask for, and indeed to recommend, are as follow : 

DUTY-PAY. 

PER ANNUM. 

Chief of Bureau of Steam-Engineering . . $5,000 
Chief Engineers of fifteen years' standing, and 

Fleet-Engineers 4,000 

Chief Engineers of ten years' standing . . 3,500 

Chief Engineers of five years' standing . . 3,000 

Chief Engineers under five years .... 2,500 

First- Assistant Engineers 1,800 

Second- Assistant Engineers 1,200 

Third- Assistant Engineers 900 

LEAVE-PAY. 

Three-fifths of the above rates. 



MEMORIAL. 



We beg leave respectfully further to add the 
request, that the assimilated rank of Engineers, now 
fixed by regulation of the Navy Department, be 
confirmed by Congress; and to express the belief 
that efficiency would be promoted by enacting that 
First Assistants be appointed by commission from 
the President, by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, and that they be privileged to mess 
in the ward-room of ships-of-wai\ 



THE ADDITION OF A HIGHER GRADE. 

It has always been found that the greater the 
number of grades, and the consequent more fre- 
quent promotions of the members of any organiza- 
tion, the greater is their esprit du corps ; and every 
thing which tends to stimulate this, increases the 
attachment to it of its best members, and is 
therefore equivalent, to a certain extent, to an in- 
crease in the salaries paid. 

The Secretary of the Navy, in his recent annual 
report, has asked that the action of the Department, 
in assigning to the oldest Engineers in each squad- 
ron the duty of Fleet -Engineer, be legalized by 
Congress. 



MEMORIAL. 



We beg leave to express our appreciation of 
this action on the part of the Honorable Secretary, 
as we consider that it adds immensely to the effi- 
ciency of any steam-fleet to have all its engineers 
accountable to, and all its machinery examined from 
time to time by, one able head. We are of the 
opinion, however, that efficiency would be promoted, 
and the esprit du corps of the entire organization 
augmented, if Congress should enact that the Fleet- 
Engineers be appointed by commission from the 
President, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate. 

As this grade would be filled with the most ex- 
perienced and able engineers at the command of the 
Department, the number should be sufficient not 
only to furnish one to each fleet afloat, but also to 
fill the most responsible positions on shore, for 
which a certain number of the most experienced 
engineers are always required. 



EDUCATION OF ENGINEERS. 

We have long felt the disadvantages we have 
labored under as a body, in not having, anywhere 
in the country, proper schools for thoroughly edu- 
cating naval engineers to their profession ; and it 



MEMORIAL 



lias been with peculiar pleasure that we find the 
present Honorable Secretary of the Navy apprecia- 
ting the importance of the subject-matter of this 
Memorial so much as to recommend at some length, 
in his recent annual report, that provision should 
be made to supply this deficiency. 

The Navy Department has, during the past eigh- 
teen years, paid considerable attention to the edu- 
cational acquirements of its engineers. 

The regulations respecting their admission and 
promotion to the various grades, have not only re- 
quired that they should be practical mechanics, and 
experienced in sea-service, but that they should be 
well grounded in mathematics and natural philoso- 
phy, and familiar with the principles and practices 
of their profession; strict examinations, by Boards 
of Chief Engineers, giving constant vitality and 
force to those regulations. 

The advantages of thus employing men who 
were something more than mechanics, were not fully 
appreciated until this war broke out ; and acting 
appointments were made principally from engineers 
of the merchant marine. 

As a rule, these are mechanics like ourselves, 
and, like ourselves, have followed the sea in the 
charge of the management of steam-machinery; but 
whatever may be claimed by volunteer officers gen- 

9, 



10 



MEMORIAL. 



erally, the Navy and the Navy Department, we feel 
assured from our own observations, are thoroughly 
convinced of the advantages of educated engineers, 
even for the performance of sea-service. 

It has been claimed by some, that naval engi- 
neers ought to be confined to the performance of 
the duties of running the engines at sea; and that 
educated persons, who never went to sea, ought to 
be employed by the Government for the perform- 
ance of the shore -duties of determining designs, 
and superintending the construction of new ma- 
chinery for the Navy. Nothing is, however, clearer 
to us, than that the experience of the sea is invalu- 
able to the designer of all marine machinery. It 
is equally so to the superintendent of its construc- 
tion. 

To obtain these advantages for those performing 
these shore-duties, it is, of course, necessary to em- 
ploy sea-going engineers ; and, vice versa, the sea- 
duties must be performed by men capable, by their 
education and abilities, of performing the higher 
classes of duties on shore. 

We have already intimated the fact, that such 
men perform the sea-duties far better than would 
be the case if those of inferior attainments were 
employed for that branch only, and that such fact 
is patent in the Navy and Navy Department. 



MEMORIAL. J] 

If, therefore, the simple fact that the care which 
has been exercised, in choosing our naval engineers 
from among those young mechanics who were pos- 
sessed of some education, has been so beneficial, 
and has enabled the Navy Department not only 
to have its steam-machinery afloat, cared for, and 
managed in a superior manner, but to have its new 
machinery designed and superintended in its con- 
struction by men who were experienced in its man- 
agement, and familiar with the construction upon 
which successful performance depended, — it is evi- 
dent that, to take these same young mechanics and 
give them a thorough professional education, and 
then send them to sea, would add greatly to their 
value in every position in which they Avould be 
placed by the Government. 

In conclusion, permit us to express the opinion, 
that whatever may be maintained by any who may 
traduce us to your Honorable Bodies, either by 
attacking individuals among us, or by wholesale 
condemnation, the economy and efficiency of our 
Naval Steamers will be increased by the encour- 
agement which will be given to superior skill and 
talents to enter and remain in the Engineer Corps 
of the Navy, if the legislation is had which we 
humbly ask for in this our Memorial. 



12 MEMORIAL. 

Signed for the Corps. 

WM. W. W. WOOD, Chief Engineer U. S. N. 

GEO. SEWELL, 



JAMES W. KING, 
JOHN P. WHIPPLE, 
ELBRIDGE LAWTON, 
H. H. STEWART, 
ALBAN C. STIMERS, 
JOHN FARRON, 
ANDREW LAWTON, 
ED. S. DE LUCE, 
THOS. A. SHOCK, 
CHAS. H. LORING, 
ALEX. HENDERSON, 
S. D. HIBBERT, 
F. C. DADE, 
DAVID B. MACOMB, 
EDW. D. ROBIE, 
THOS. WILLIAMSON, 
WM. J. LAMDIN, 
WM. B. BROOKS, 
CHARLES H. BAKER, 
P. G. PELTZ, 
MORTIMER KELLOGG, 
JAMES B. KIMBALL, 
JOHN W. MOORE, 
W. H. RUTHERFORD, 
WM. ROBERTS. 



January, 1864. 



MEMORIAL. ] 3 



INDORSEMENT, 

We, the undersigned Engineers, Ship-builders, 
and Manufacturers of Steam - Machinery, cordially 
indorse the foregoing Memorial of the Engineers 
of the Navy. Our acquaintance with them, and 
our familiarity with the commercial value of the 
services they are constantly rendering to the Gov- 
ernment, induce us to express freely the opinion, 
that the rates of pay for which they ask are quite 
moderate. 

We also wish especially to indorse the request 
they make with regard to the establishment of a 
system for the education of the Naval Engineer, as 
we believe it would exert a beneficial influence 
upon the entire profession in this country: 

J. ERICSSON, New York. 

C. H. DELAMATER, Delamater Iron Works, New York. 
GEO. W. QUINTARD, Morgan Iron Works, New York. 
MIERS CORYELL, " " " New York. 

HORATIO ALLEN, Novelty Iron Works, New York. 
WM. E. EVERETT, « " " New York. 

BOARDMAN, HOLBROOK & CO., Neptune Iron Works, 

New Y'ork. 
JOSEPH BELKNAP, Supt. Neptune Iron Works, New York. 



14 MEMORIAL. 

WM. H. WEBB, New York. 

SECOR & CO., Fulton Iron Works, Jersey City. 

M. F. MERRITT, New York. 

WM. PERINE, Perine Union Iron Works, New York. 

T. F. SECOR, Allaire Works, New York. 

JAMES MURPHY & CO., Fulton Iron Works, New York. 

JOHN ROACH, Etna Iron Works, New York. 

TUGNOT, DALLY & CO., Franklin Forge, New York. 

DANIEL McLEOD, South Brooklyn Steam-Engine Works, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

J. B. COBB, South Brooklyn Steam-Engine Works, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. 

HOMER RAMSDELL, Washington Iron Works, Newburg, 
N.Y. 

HARRISON LORING, City Point Works, Boston, Mass. 

DONALD McKAY, Boston, Mass. 

AQUILA ADAMS, 

HERMAN WINTER, " 

NELSON CURTIS, Atlantic Works, Boston, Mass. 

GEO. B. STETSON, Bridgewater Iron Works, Bridgewater, 
Mass. 

MERRICK & SONS, Southwark Foundry, Philadelphia, Pa, 

W. CRAMP & SONS, Philadelphia, Pa. 

WILLCOX & WHITING, Kaignes Point Iron Works, Cam- 
den, N. J. 

REANEY, SON, & ARCHBOLD, Pennsylvania Iron Works, 
Chester, Pa. 

HARLAN, & HOLLINGSWORTH & CO., Wilmington, Del. 

PUSEY, JONES & CO., Wilmington, Del. 



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